Hello, from Melbourne!!

phili · December 28, 2005

Hi there i am a newbie to this site as i found this while i was looking up info about the surgery as im really wanting to do this operation for myself. im waiting to see a doctor about this next month.can anyone please tell me if they have had it done and if so is it all good and safe? i want to do this but a few friends think i shouldnt, but i want to do it to make my self happier!!:Bunny

Jachut · December 28, 2005

Hi, I'm in Melbourne too - actually there's a couple of us here. Which surgeon are you considering? Where do you live? I went through Mr Crosthwaite at The Avenue in Windsor. I was banded 9th December, all's well so far, it was a breeze really.

Jachut · December 28, 2005

Hi, I'm in Melbourne too - actually there's a couple of us here. Which surgeon are you considering? Where do you live? I went through Mr Crosthwaite at The Avenue in Windsor. I was banded 9th December, all's well so far, it was a breeze really.

phili · December 28, 2005

Hi thanks for getting back to me, im new to this site only joined tonite and dont really know how it works!! im going to see a dr peter nottle in williamstown and im eager as i really want to do this, how was it? can you let me know some stuff? any worries? sorry to pry!

Jachut · December 28, 2005

Honestly, it was easy and I havent felt hungry since. I've lost about 6kg since my surgery, effortlessly. I'm enjoying my food immensely on mushies, everything seems to taste fabulous. Just taking it slow and steady, ready for a bit more vigorous exercise now.

It was only a bit painful right after surgery, but they take care of that with morphine. I was right as rain to come home the next morning.

The road's been smooth but I'm sure there'll be bumps along the way. But right now I'd say it was absolutely the right move and the best thing I've done for myself.

I'm not sure that most of the benefit for me isnt psychological but I dont really care. I think Fee here was done by Peter Nottle too.

The thing to remember here is it's a great place of support but you need to follow what your own surgeon and dietician instruct you too. There seems to be a huge difference in attitude to the diet after banding between Australia and the States and I found several anxieties I had that arose from information i found here were easily quelled by my surgeon. In fact the post op diet sounded so scary to me (with a heavy emphasis on protein) that I initially decided not to get a band. But after researching it more in Australia I felt more comforted that I would be able to continue what for me was really a pretty good diet just a bit heavy on volume. So far so good. But there is a cultural difference that's a bit scary if you're not aware of it.

Not that I'm knocking in any way the way anyone does things, just that it seemed very foreign to me.

phili · December 28, 2005

Hi Jacqui thanks for getting back to me. so you go on a diet before you take the operation? do you have to take tablets and medication beforehand also? sorry for being a stickybeak,i guess i just want to know all there is as i do want to do this. is it only for people who eat alot of food? or in general for people with weight problems?

Thank you

Jachut · December 28, 2005

Most surgeons do a 2 week Optifast diet beforehand - which is a liquid Meal Replacement that pretty much tastes like powdered lips and a..eholes! Im sure that's what they make it from.

The purpose is to shrink your liver, makes the surgery easier (especially since they do it laparascopically). I think a lot depends on your state of health beforehand though, loads of people are on medication for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, all the problems bought on by obesity. I was lucky to have this opportunity before I got to that stage, and I didnt have to do the preop liquid diet as my BMI was 35 and I didnt have a fatty liver. I did have pre op blood tests to check levels of all sorts of stuff and saw a respiratory physician although I cant figure out why that is.

Whether or not it works for you easily I guess comes down to your issues around eating. Again I'm very lucky - I was a big eater but not a disordered one, hence take away the hunger and I dont think about food at all these days, I mean that literally. It's like a miracle. If you have more serious food issues, terrible trouble controlling binging, evening snacking, you eat for emotional reasons (who doesnt?) then I suspect you'll come across situations where your head says you want to eat despite what your body says. Many people here suffer that and many of them have, if not beaten it, beaten it back into submission. It can be done. It's way easier to fight your demons if you're not truly starving at the time.

I think you also need to assess lifestyle factors that have caused you to become overweight. For me it's disorganisation - lack of time, and a big part due to the fact that with a 2 year old in tow, I just cant be bothered going to the supermarket even though I need to and then I'm faced with no food in the house, buying quick and easy junk etc. That's not going to magically disappear, I'm really going to have work on that.

Dont let all the insurance approval issues you may read about here frighten you either - it's not like that in Australia. You will need private health insurance, which I'm assuming you have - or if you're very lucky your surgeon will do it under the public system, but there's very few that do. And self pay is often not an option here in Australia either, in case revision surgery is necessary, the surgeon's get nervous about people being unable to pay them. Its also way easier to get approved - in Australia they will consider people with a BMI of 30+ because they realise that most people only hit that weight on the way through to even higher weights, and that really statsitically anyone who has gotten that fat is very very unlikely to lose the weight and keep it off any other way.